Kim Jong Il (Hangul:김정일; Hanja:金正日) (born February 16, 1941, in Vyatskoye, Russia; died December 17, 2011[1]) was the dictator of North Korea. He came to power in 1994 and died in 2011. He was also the leader of the North Korean Communist party (officially, the Worker's Party of Korea). He was criticized for extensive human rights abuses in North Korea. Over one million people in North Korea have starved to death as a result of his corrupt government, disastrous agricultural polices, and refusal to accept international aid.

He came into power in 1994, after his father Kim Il Sung died, remained the North Korean leader until his death. He was an atheist and an intense persecutor of Christians and other organized religions. He was in conflict with the world community over the building of nuclear weapons, but seems to relish the attention. Kim claimed North Korea has built a nuclear weapon.

Kim was only 5 feet 3 inches tall,[2] but styled his hair in an exaggerated fashion to appear to be taller leading some to speculate he had a Napoleon Complex.

Kim Jong Il was also thought to be a hypochondriac, as well as his chronic fear of flying. He traveled by a custom built armored train. He was also famous also for his lavish lifestyle, having been known to have at one time abducted a Japanese sushi chef for the sole purpose of making sushi for his "high exaltedness".[3]

Contents

Cult of personality

Although not to the same extent as Kim Il Sung, North Koreans venerated Kim Jong Il under a similar cult of personality. Some examples of Kim Jong Il's personality cult:

He was born under a double rainbow on the sacred Baektul Mountain in 1942. At the moment of his birth, a bright star lit up the sky, the seasons spontaneously changed from winter to spring and a double rainbow appeared in the sky. (In truth, he was born in Vyatskoye, Siberia in 1941.)[4]

At the age of four, "he smeared a Japanese map with black ink, then a stormy rain poured down on Japan."